England collapsed to another agonising late defeat in their Autumn Nations Series when Max Jorgensen struck three minutes into overtime to snatch a 42-37 victory for Australia at Allianz Stadium.
Marcus Smith appeared to have orchestrated a successful fightback for Steve Borthwick’s side by creating two tries for Ollie Sleightholme, only for a rollercoaster climax to leave him thumping the pitch in despair.
It seemed as though England had finally prevailed when Maro Itoje surged over in the 77th minute to cancel out Andrew Kellaway’s breakaway try two minutes earlier, but the swashbuckling Wallabies were not done.
With the match about to enter its 83rd minute, they engineered the opportunity for Jorgensen to score with rugby league superstar Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i involved as part of a classy union debut.
It was a cruel finish but England paid the price for a poor defensive display and they have lost both of their autumn games so far after falling 24-22 to New Zealand a week earlier.
South Africa are the next visitors to Twickenham in seven days’ time but that grudge match must be tackled without Tom Curry, the all-action openside who was knocked out when tackling Rob Valetini.
Play was held up for several minutes while Curry received treatment and the Sale forward was eventually able to walk from the field but now faces a 12-day stand down period.
Australia’s initial comeback coincided with his departure in the 23rd minute and England were also disrupted by Immanuel Feyi-Waboso being led off with half an hour to go after suffering a head injury while tackling Jeremy Williams.
Helped by England’s shortcomings in defence the Wallabies, ranked ninth in the world, were excellent once they had recovered from a poor start that saw England score after just four minutes.
Smith’s low kick was gathered by Ollie Lawrence and when the ball was recycled the home forwards sprung into action with Jamie George, Ellis Genge and Ben Earl combining to set up Chandler Cunningham-South.
A Noah Lolesio penalty interrupted their momentum until Smith propelled them forward again with a sharp break, creating the opportunity for Cunningham-South to crash over from a free-kick.
Curry departed following his collision with Valetini and moments later the Wallabies showed their cutting edge in a 26th-minute try by Tom Wright made possible by Sua’ali’i drawing George Furbank and Sleightholme before finding his full-back with a no-look pass over the top.
Two penalties from Smith kept England in the driving seat but their swagger was fading and Australia were the next to strike by exploiting a fractured home defence for Harry Wilson to touch down, with Tate McDermott the creator.
McDermott, who had replaced starting scrum-half Jake Gordon, was the catalyst as the Wallabies continued on the rampage and after they almost scored again Lolesio landed a penalty to give them an interval lead.
Australia’s growing domination continued into the second half with lock Williams completing an acrobatic finish in the left corner in the 49th minute and when Lolesio was on target with a penalty they were 10 points ahead.
It needed England to hit back quickly and they did so when Smith’s grubber was touched down by Sleightholme, who soon after took an elbow to the head and had to compose himself.
Smith was moved to full-back to accommodate George Ford’s arrival but his desire to play persisted as he sent Lawrence charging into space for Sleightholme to cross again.
The closing moments spiralled into an exchange of tries that thrilled the crowd but ended with England’s players holding their heads in disbelief.